MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Mersin- Women journalists living in Mersin province have published a newspaper named, “Kadından Haber (News from Women)” to make the struggle of the local women’s movement visible. While women have shown great interest in the first issue of the newspaper, which was published recently, the second issue of the newspaper is planned to be published after March 8, International Women’s Day. We spoke to Fatoş Sarıkaya, General Coordinator of the newspaper, about the purpose of the newspaper. Fatoş Sarıkaya stated that they decided to publish this newspaper in order to make the women's struggle visible and to draw attention to the discriminatory language against LGBTI+ individuals.

“My aim is to make women's struggle and activities visible in Mersin”

Pointing out that violence against women and LGBTI+ individuals and discriminatory language against them are not reported by the press outlets due to rapid change in the agenda of Turkey, Fatoş Sarıkaya emphasized that they are invisible in local press outlets. The women journalists decided to publish a newspaper on the first anniversary of their news website.

“There is a strong women’s struggle and movement in Mersin. The activities of the women’s movement are not reported by the press outlets. As a member of this movement, I wanted to publish a newspaper to report the activities and demands of the movement without censoring them. I wouldn’t be free if I worked for a local newspaper or press outlet. For this reason, I decided to publish my own newspaper,” Fatoş Sarıkaya told us.

“I wanted to build a free space for women journalists”

Stating that the newspaper will be a memory of society, Fatoş Sarıkaya said that they want to document the women’s struggle in Mersin.

“Unfortunately, the media is dominated by men in Mersin, like everywhere. Before publishing the newspaper, I wanted to come together with many women journalists to ensure the visibility of women. Women journalists working for the newspaper have also worked for other news outlets. I wanted to build a free space for women journalists, who cannot write news as they want. After publishing the first issue of the newspapers, we received many positive comments. Everyone likes it.”

The next issue will be published after March 8

“In the newspaper, we focus on everything about women such as their economic, social, cultural or artistic life,” Fatoş Sarıkaya said, adding, “We try to report about everything. Our aim is to publish the newspaper twice a year. The next issue of the newspaper will be published after March 8, International Women’s Day.”

“We focus on women’s struggle”

Emphasizing that their main aim is to expose the male systematic violence in the country, Fatoş Sarıkaya said, “Our aim is to draw attention to violence and discriminatory language against LGBTI people and women. We prefer to focus on women’s struggle than to show women as victims.”